Ceiling and floor plate.



11. c. GAYNOR.

' v CEILING Ann FLOOR PLATE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21,1910.

989,140. Patented Apr. 11, 1911.

l5 WITNESSES. [6 INVENTOR ATTORNEY nu uanma n-rlns m5. wnumprou. n. :1

ARTHUR C. GAYNOR, 0F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

CEILING AND FLOOR PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1911.

Application filed July 21, 1910. Serial No. 573,021.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. GAYNOR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bridgeport, county of Fair-field, State of Connecticut, haveinvented an Improvement in Ceiling and Floor Plates, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide simple, inexpensive, easilyattached and easily operated means for joining the members of ceilingand floor plates and positively but detachably securing them together.

The special advantages of my present construction are that the parts maybe blanked out to shape in presses and that riveting is avoided, thusreducing the cost of construction to the minimum and producing a neatand attractive article.

With these and other objects in view I have devised the novel ceilingand floor plate which I will now describe, referring to the accompanyingdrawing forming a part of this specification and using referencecharacters to indicate the several parts.

Figure 1 is an inverted plan view of my novel plate with the memberssecured together; Fig. 2 a section on the line 22 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 aplan view of one of the catches detached; Fig. 4 an edge viewcorresponding with Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 inFig. 1.

1O denotes the members or halves of a ceiling or floor plate which areblanked out from sheet metal and may be given any ordinary or preferredconfiguration. Each member is provided near its end with twolongitudinal slots 11 and on the side of each slot farthest from theother slot with a depression 12 which forms a hood on the inner side ofthe member. One member, the left as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, is providedon its inner side with housings 13 formed from sheet metal and open onopposite sides. Each housing is provided at its ends with lugs 14 whichare passed upward through the slots 11 and then pressed down into thedepressions where they lie flush with the outer surface of the memberand are wholly covered on the inner side by the hoods. The housings arethus rigidly secured to the member, riveting is avoided and the outersurface of the member is left smooth. In practice, the ends of the lugsare rounded and the depressions are made just large enough to receivethem. The other member is provided at its ends with catches 15. The

shanks of the catches are provided with lugs 16 which are passed upwardthrough the corresponding slots 11 and are then pressed downward intothe depressions, making an attachment in precisely the same manner thatthe housings are attached to the other member, the lugs being covered onthe inner side by the housings, as before, and the outer side of themember being left flush and smooth and without rivets. The forward endof each catch is made spear-pointed and comprises a notch 17 and a hook18. The bodies of the catches are offset inward slightly to adapt themto pass under the ends of the opposite members and into and through thehousings on the opposite members. The hooks are bent inward obliquely tothe plane of the bodies of the catches, so that they will be sprungoutward slightly in passing through the housings and will snap intoengagement with the rear walls of the housings after passing through thehousings and into the locking position, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and2, the engagement of the hooks with the rear walls of the housingsserving to lock the members securely together and retain them in placein use. To detach the members from each other, the hook of one catch issprung outward sufficiently to disengage it from the rear wall of thehousing and permit it to be drawn backward through the housing. Theother catch may then be readily detached by turning the members slightlyout of parallel with each other and moving them away from each other.The members may be attached together again by simply passing the hooksinto the housings and moving them forward until the hooks snap intoengagement with the rear walls of the housings.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. Ceiling and floor plate members having near their ends longitudinalslots and depressions contiguous thereto, one of said members beingprovided with housings having lugs which are passed through the slotsand bent downward'into the depressions and the other member beingprovided with catches having lugs to engage the slots and depressionsand oblique hooks which are adapted to pass through the housings andthen spring into engagement with the rear walls thereof.

2. Ceiling and floor plate members having near their ends longitudinalslots and depressions contiguous thereto, one member being provided Withopen housings and the other member with catches comprising oblique hooksadapted to engage the housings, said housings and catches being providedwith lugs Which are passed through the slots in the members and presseddown into the ARTHUR C. GAYNOR. i/Vitnesses A. M. Woos'rnR, C. H.SHEEHAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, I). C.

